My 40K Prospects for the 2020 Season.

Well we’re getting close to 2020…. er, I guess I should say we’re a few months INTO 2020, and I haven’t seemed to fall in love with anything I’m playing. I like to rant with the assistance of pictures, so let’s have a look at what I’m painting, and considering.

First up the joke that has become the Custodes. I pulled these guys out and asked for some opinions from friends and was met with sideways glances and looks that said, “Surely you CAN’T be serious!?!”

The thing is I’ve redone almost the entire army (for a third time) and I don’t want to sell it. I’ve even added a few pieces that have been nerfed into oblivion.

Like an exercise bike at a garage sale…. it’s hardly been used.

Trajann Valoris… the great unsung hero. Will he be saved by Psychic Awakening?

The most obvious observation I can give on these guys is Custodes and Space Marines did a complete swap of usefulness as the meta evolved. At one point Marines wanted to be Custodes. Now that 2+ save and D3 damage axe is a paltry excuse for a weapon in the uber killy meta of the current 40K game. A simple Aggressor is twice the man a Custode Guardian is, and that simply should not be.

Next up I’ve been working on Thousand Sons leading into, and with the release of Psychic Awakening 4!

I’ve got more of these tedious buggers to work on.

Even finished these guys. Not that dust can be grateful of the time I’ve put into them.

All is not dust, but it certainly feels like it sometimes. In my post PA4 games the army is still a touch awkward thanks to GW’s strange introduction of Cults being ‘locked’ to detachments. It not only creates unnecessary complication, it’s quite frankly too limiting. Be that as it may, the army works a teeny bit different, and those of us tired of Tzaangors, can actually move away from that a bit.

Then there’s my Eldar project. Oh how I have put serious time, and money into this. I of course have to pick unorthodox units and wonder how much I want to torture myself with the whole thing.

And here is a rare glimpse of an Eldar / Ynnari project I just started (since I rarely post WIP pics.)

I started with some contrast paint ,and made my own ‘contrast’ paint for the body.

I started with Contrast paint just to get a feel for this model’s detail. What a pain to put this one together. I still don’t think all the hair quite lines up but whatever. I did what I could.

This is actually after applying a lot of paint.

A few hours in and the energy coming from the body down to the ground is nearly done… the body has had a lot of work done to it. The hair is getting there. Quite a busy model.

I did this in an effort to have some fun with the army. So far I can see the units that work, work very well for eldar, and the majority of those are (boring) vehicles. Some of the ‘fun’ stuff is just not going to get you that far in a competitive environment.

Next up….

AdMech!

Here is another somewhat red-headed step child of 8th edition… the Adeptus Mechanicus. Although they got the new Skorpius vehicle, it’s not the most competitive army list, and whenever I see someone really enjoying success with the army, it’s usually a few Skorpius’ + Iron Hands, and even a sprinkle of Blood Angels. That’s not the Mars fighting force I envisioned. Still they are fun, but very limited. I guess we’ll see what March/April brings from them in Psychic Awakening.

And finally…

The old proverbial stinky sock!

It’s got holes in it. It smells something fierce. It’s functional incompetence at its finest! Black Legion!!!

Why would I bother? Well I guess my heart is still in this mish mash of failed experiments. I did take Black Legion to an ITC GT/Major, and it played horribly. Far worse than my Deathguard Chaos army. There was very little punch in the army, but you know what? I won best painted for it, and that felt good for an old stinky sock!

So why would I continue to torture myself with this army? Black Legion as a hole was never really very good, and has since been largely leap frogged by nearly all the other Legions in the Psychic Awakening book.

Perhaps there is new life in my ongoing Chaos Knights project:

If there’s a breath of bad air in the room, it’s probably this guy.

And let’s not forget my first guy in this army:

So perhaps the better idea is Chaos Knights and Black Legion? Or Chaos Knights and Thousand Sons?

At any rate, that’s where I am. Lots of projects (probably too many). Not a lot of success in 8th edition. And if any of you are wondering….

The Ultramarines are gone.

I will post up my final pics of them, but I got an offer I couldn’t refuse and had to sell them to keep my hobbying going. I wasn’t looking to sell them, but I do get requests through this blog and my Instagram account and this is one that I just couldn’t turn down. The unfortunate side effect is I don’t think I could paint a third Ultramarine army.

I’ve considered White Scars for something utterly different, but for now I’d like to stick to one of the above projects for this year’s competitive season!

Thanks for checking in.

Stay Dusty,

Prot.